


Count Your Blessings

by Robin Hood (kjack89)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 05:17:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14371722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/Robin%20Hood
Summary: Five times Rafael asked a Carisi for their blessing to ask Sonny to marry him, and one time Sonny asked a Barba.





	Count Your Blessings

**Author's Note:**

> I realized that Carisi has 5 immediate family members and Barba has one, and thus this more or less wrote itself.
> 
> My eternal gratitude to AHF for her help with the final section and for, as always, making what I write infinitely better than it would be on my own. Thanks also to ships-to-sail for the beta!!
> 
> Usual disclaimer. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos!

“You know, we come as a package deal.”

Rafael jumped as he felt strong arms wrap around his waist from behind, though his lips twitched towards a smile as Sonny pressed a kiss to his cheek.

It was the annual Carisi family Fourth of July barbecue out on Staten Island, and Rafael supposed neither he nor Sonny were all that surprised to find him hiding inside. Inside, where he could be away from the heat, and the humidity, and far more importantly, the countless Carisi relatives.

Sonny’s tone was teasing, but Rafael knew that he was perfectly serious. “If you wanna be with me, my family’s always gonna be a part of that.”

“If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my family?” Rafael replied, equally teasingly, as Sonny rolled his eyes.

“I don't even wanna know how you can't name any band popular in the past two decades but somehow have the entire Spice Girls discography memorized,” he sighed. “But yeah, pretty much.”

Rafael didn’t hesitate, leaning in and kissing Sonny lightly. “I’ll work on it,” he promised. “I know how important they are to you.”

“They are,” Sonny said firmly. “But so are you. The most important things in my life.”

“Sap,” Rafael whispered, even as he captured his lips once more. “So if we’re equally important, why am I the one getting the lecture instead of sending one of your sisters or parents in here after me?”

Sonny poked him lightly in the stomach. “Because there's only one of you,” he said, rolling his eyes again. “Have you ever tried to get a bunch of Carisis in line to do anything?”

“No,” Rafael said, smirking, “but considering how hard it is to get one of you to do anything…”

“Hey now, I'm obedient to a fault,” Sonny protested, and gave Rafael a look when his smirk turned predatory. “I'm not gonna tell you again — not in my parents’ house.”

“I wasn't going to suggest anything,” Rafael said innocently, but the purr in his voice and the way he slipped his fingers through the belt loops of Sonny’s jeans to pull their hips flush belied his tone. “It's not my fault that you always want to show me what a good boy you are.”

Sonny jabbed him again, this time hard enough to make Rafael wince and swat his hand away. “You're vulgar,” he said, though he couldn't quite stop his grin.

“And it's _definitely_ not my fault that you like me that way.”

“Be that as it may,” Sonny said, and Rafael smirked, chalking up his inability to refute it as a victory, “I’d like you better if you were outside mingling with my relatives and making an effort.”

Rafael blanched at the thought. “Can't I deal with them all individually?” he pleaded.

“Coward,” Sonny teased, nipping the underside of his jaw. “But if you really want, I can send one of my sisters in. Warm you up for the whole group.”

“God, please,” Rafael sighed, and Sonny’s eyes darkened. “Detective,” he said warningly as Sonny took a step closer, “do I have to remind you of your own rules?”

“You said please,” Sonny told him, kissing him before telling him, “And you _know_ what that does to me.”

It was Rafael’s turn to poke him in the stomach, and Sonny scowled. “Just go send one of your sisters in,” Rafael sighed. “Let’s get the torture over with.”

“For that, I'm gonna send Teresa in first,” Sonny muttered, even as he bent to kiss Rafael once more.

Once was Sonny was out of sight, Rafael sighed and ran a hand across his face. He loved Sonny, really he did, he just wished he didn't come with quite so many relatives.

As he heard the sound of one of the Carisi sisters heading in his direction, Rafael wondered if he could find where Sonny’s father hid the scotch. “Rafael!” Teresa shrieked when she saw him. “What are you doing? Trying to hide from us?”

“Not successfully,” Rafael muttered, but Teresa ignored him, grabbing his arm and dragging him outside.

“Look who I found, everyone!” she crowed, and in an instant they were swarmed by a mass of Carisis.

Rafael met Sonny’s eyes across the backyard and he made a pleading face. Sonny just winked and Rafael rolled his eyes, tuning out the Carisi relations as his mind drifted to all the ways he was going to get Sonny to pay him back when they got home.

* * *

 

Six months later, Rafael still preferred to deal with the various Carisi family members individually. He had gotten better at handling them all together in small doses, such as the few Sunday dinners he was able to make when work didn't get in the way, but only marginally so.

As much as Rafael had little difficulty making his presence felt in any room he walked into, he more often than not felt himself cowed by the onslaught of accents and volume and questions just this side of too personal.

Which was why, when it came to the most important question he would ever ask, he decided divide and conquer was the best method.

He started with Gina.

Gina was the easiest of Sonny’s sisters to deal with for a variety of reasons, including the fact that her personality was predictable. Whereas Sonny — as both a middle child and the only (and thus oldest) boy — had a mix of oldest child and middle child traits, Gina was classic middle child.

Which meant asking her first would stroke her ego just enough to make things easy for him.

She also had the advantage of several engagements under her belt — failed engagements, to be sure, but engagements nonetheless, which meant she knew what it took for some poor sap to go through asking for permission to marry a Carisi.

And no one loved giving advice more than Gina Carisi.

They met at a little café in midtown, someplace that Gina had picked because it had made some top food list or another, something Rafael would normally take as a reason not to go, but he figured he would suffer through.

“Rafael!” Gina called, waving him over to a table by the window. “I already got you a coffee.”

“You didn't have to do that,” Rafael told her as he slid into the seat across from her.

She waved a dismissive hand. “It was nothing,” she said airily. “You deserve all the coffee in the world for putting up with Sonny.”

Her tone was teasing and Rafael rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “If anything, he deserves coffee for putting up with me,” he said with a chuckle. “Especially in the morning before I've had any caffeine.”

“Ah, true love,” she laughed.

“Speaking of,” Rafael said, seizing the opportunity for a segue, “that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Gina’s eyes narrowed. “Are you breaking up with my brother?” she asked, a dangerous lilt to her voice.

Rafael blinked. “Um...the opposite, actually.”

He hesitated before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the black velvet ring box he'd been carrying around for a week or so now, ever since he'd retrieved it from his mother’s place.

Gina’s eyes widened and she grabbed the box and opened it. “Holy _shit_ , Rafi!” she squealed.

He smirked. “Do you like it?” he asked, trying not to preen at her reaction. “It was my grandfather’s.”

“Well, it's not exactly my style, but…” She trailed off, grinning. “Sonny will love it. When are you planning on asking him?”

“I'm not sure yet,” Rafael admitted. “I have a few more Carisis to ask first.”

Gina cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh?” she asked, taking a sip of her latte.

Rafael took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said. “There is nothing more important to Sonny than family, and even though I know it's traditional to ask the father's permission, I knew I wouldn't feel right asking Sonny to marry me if I didn't have the entire family’s blessing.”

“The _entire_ family?” Gina repeated skeptically, though she was grinning.

Rafael rolled his eyes. “The _immediate_ family,” he amended.

Something tightened in Gina’s smile and she shrugged. “Well I’m sure Teresa's already said yes and Lord knows I don't—”

“I actually haven't asked Teresa yet,” Rafael interrupted coolly. “You're the first family member I've spoken to about this.”

Gina stared at him for a moment before setting her coffee cup down. “Really?” she asked doubtfully. “Why me?”

Rafael shrugged. “Honestly? Because I was fairly certain of your reaction. And because I wanted to ask your advice about how best to ask your family members.”

Gina instantly brightened. “Oh, absolutely,” she said with a grin. “You’ve come to the right Carisi. Do Teresa next — but don’t tell her you’ve already spoken to me. Take her someplace fancy and you’ll be golden.” Rafael nodded; he had suspected as much, but he was glad to have it confirmed. “Ma’ll be tricky — you gotta catch her in the right mood or she’s liable to get weepy on you. Try after Sunday dinner maybe, or whenever you can help her around the house. Pop...he’ll make you do something with your hands. My last fiancé had to help him work on the car for like two hours before he could get the question out.”

“What about Bella?” Rafael asked.

“Oh, Bella loves you almost as much as Sonny does,” Gina assured him. “You don’t have to worry about her.”

Rafael nodded slowly. “So I assume this means I have your blessing?” he asked.

Gina’s eyes narrowed. “Provided you don’t break my brother’s heart, in which case, I’d have to break your kneecaps — yes.”

Rafael tried not to notice how gleeful she sounded at the prospect of breaking his kneecaps. “I certainly have no intention of ever doing so,” he said. “Thanks.”

She beamed at him. “In that case, let me be the first to say — welcome to the family!”

“Not quite yet,” he reminded her, but he was smiling, and more than a little relieved at how relatively painless the entire thing had been as he lifted his coffee cup to tap it against hers in a toast.

One down.

Four to go.

* * *

 

“You know, I didn’t think your type of lawyer made this much money.”

Teresa sounded almost impressed as the maître d’ at one of Manhattan’s many fine dining establishments held out her chair for her. “We don’t,” Rafael assured her as he took his own seat across the table. “I just happen to have made some key investments back when I was working in the private sector.”

“How fortuitous,” she said with something like a smirk, and Rafael was unsurprised when she ordered a bottle of wine as soon as the waiter paused by their table.

They made small talk for a few minutes as the waiter brought the wine and they ordered. Rafael swirled his glass of wine before asking, “How’s Mia?”

Teresa’s expression softened, just slightly. “She's good,” she said. “She's transferring. To Columbia, if you can believe it.”

Rafael nodded, giving her a genuine smile. “Sonny told me,” he said. “He couldn't be more proud of her.”

Teresa smiled as well. “So am I.” She took a sip of wine. “Besides, maybe this means Sonny won't be the only Carisi to snag an Ivy League beau.”

Rafael rolled his eyes and laughed. “Yes, because I’m such a catch.” He paused. “But I was hoping to make Sonny’s, uh, snagging of me permanent.”

Teresa’s smile sharpened. “Do you mean you want to ask my dumb baby brother to marry you?”

“With your blessing,” Rafael said cautiously, trying to gauge Teresa’s tone.

“Do you already have a ring?”

Rafael pulled the ring box out of his pocket and slid it across the table to her, and she greedily snatched the box and opened it up. Rafael was surprised when her face fell, just slightly. “Do you not like it?” he asked.

Teresa glanced up at him and smiled. “No, it's a very nice ring,” she assured him, handing it back. “And I'm sure Sonny will love it. His tastes have always been more plain than mine.” Rafael blinked and Teresa added, “I guess I was just expecting more from Sonny’s sugar daddy.”

“It was my grandfather’s,” Rafael said, stung. “Besides, you do realize that your brother makes more money than I do, right?”

It was Teresa’s turn to stare at him. “He does?” she asked, clearly surprised.

“Yes,” Rafael said, a little tersely. “His base salary is higher than mine, so if anything, he’s the sugar daddy, not me.”

He chose not to mention that the bulk of Sonny’s salary in recent years had gone to paying for law school, or that his own annual income was significantly higher than his ADA salary thanks to his investment and stock portfolio. Neither of those were any of Teresa’s business, and besides, he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.

Of course, he hadn’t counted on the contemplative expression that stole over her face. “Huh,” she said, draining her glass of wine. “I didn’t realize that.”

“Well, now you know,” Rafael said, a touch waspishly.

She nodded slowly. “Well, in that case, maybe I should work on finding myself an NYPD detective.”

Rafael choked on an ill-timed sip of wine as Teresa smiled sweetly at him.

Sonny was going to kill him for even putting that thought in Teresa’s head.

* * *

 

As Tessa cleared off the table following Sunday dinner, Rafael got up to help her. She tried to get him to sit back down. “Rafael, you’re a guest,” she scolded with a smile.

“As my abuela would say, just because I'm a guest doesn't mean my arms are broken,” Rafael countered, picking up some dirty dishes.

He paused to drop a light kiss onto Sonny’s lips, ignoring the question and slight concern he could read in Sonny’s expression and instead following Tessa into the kitchen. Tessa _tsk_ -ed as she took the dirty dishes from him, setting them in the sink. “Wouldn't you rather relax, spend time with Sonny?” she asked as she turned the sink on.

“Relaxing and I tend not to go hand in hand,” Rafael said with a chuckle, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Besides, there was something I wanted to ask you.”

Tessa pursed her lips and shrugged. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll wash, you dry.”

She nodded towards the dish towel looped over the handle of the oven door, and Rafael grabbed it. They worked side by side for a long moment before Tessa said offhandedly, “I know what you want to ask.”

“Do you?” Rafael asked mildly.

Tessa nodded. “Oh yes,” she said. “I've known since the first time Sonny brought you around. This was it for him.”

Rafael couldn't help but feel like he needed to apologize, even if he wasn't quite sure what for. “I can't imagine any mother looks at her only son falling for a man ten years his senior as a good thing,” he said.

She shrugged, handing him a plate for him to dry. “It's not the age thing,” she mused. “Lord knows I don't have a leg to stand on. Dom’s seven years older than me, after all.” She shook her head and paused in the middle of the pot she was washing. “You just — you picture certain things for your children, you know? And for Sonny, I always saw him getting married in church, having children…”

Tessa trailed off, but she didn't need to complete the image. It was one Rafael knew well, one that had almost stopped him from being with Sonny in the first place for fear of taking that future away from him. “I wouldn't have chosen this for him either,” he said quietly.

“So I’m not without my reservations,” Tessa said bluntly, a characteristic she had passed on to her only son, and something Rafael normally appreciated.

Here, not so much.

“But I also know my son,” she continued, “and once he’s made a decision, there’s no way to change his mind. Come hell or high water, if his mind is made up, that’s the end of it.”

She chuckled and shook her head, but Rafael could only manage a weak smile, and Tessa’s expression softened, and she reached out to pat his hand lightly. “Sonny’s mind was made up before he ever brought you out to Staten Island to meet us, and while it’s not what I pictured for him, it’s what he chose for himself. And above all, you make him happier than I have ever seen him, and at the end of the day, that’s what any mom wants for her son.”

Tessa paused and gave Rafael a long, measured look. “And as long as you continue to make him happy, you have my blessing.” She nudged him gently. “You’ve had it all along.”

Rafael smiled at her, relief flooding his chest. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “All I want is to make Sonny happy.”

“I know,” she said. She handed him a serving platter and nudged him again. “So when are you and Sonny planning on giving me grandkids?” Rafael blanched and Tessa laughed, loud and bright and eerily reminiscent of her son’s laugh. “Kidding, kidding, but Lord, the look on your face…”

She swatted Rafael lightly with the dishrag and he managed a smile again, albeit a much paler version of his previous smile, his relief tempered by the realization that this could have gone much, _much_ worse.

* * *

 

The heat was overwhelming.

The weather app on Rafael’s phone — if he even had service, which at this point, he somehow doubted he did, even if he supposedly hadn't left Staten Island — would probably tell him that it wasn't _that_ hot, but he'd spent the last three hours in a thoroughly miserable fashion, stuck in a cramped boat on some godforsaken little pond-cum-swamp on Staten fucking Island with Dom Carisi, who thus far had spoken all of three words to him.

A mosquito buzzed in Rafael’s ear and he flinched, swatting in vain in the general direction of the insect.

Dom, seated across from him, seemed completely unaffected by the sweltering heat and suffocating humidity. He appeared to be perfectly content to sit under the sun, with his fishing pole dangling in the water, and just wait patiently.

Patience had never exactly been Rafael’s strong suit.

When Gina had said that Dom would likely make him do something with his hands, Rafael had mentally prepared himself accordingly, even going through a few online articles on car engines so he wouldn't seem like a complete idiot.

But when Rafael had arrived at the Carisi household at an ungodly early hour, Dom had just smiled at him and asked, “How do you feel about fishing?”

Rafael liked fish. Mainly eating them. Mainly in the form of sushi.

He would literally rather never eat sushi again then have to sit in this boat for another hour.

He could hear Sonny’s voice in his head, sweet and mocking as he called him _Drama Queen,_ and Rafael scowled.

“Everything alright?” Dom asked easily.

Rafael’s shoulders hunched. “Fine,” he said, giving Dom a tight smile.

Dom grinned. “Enjoying yourself?”

Rafael’s smile faltered and he scrambled to find something complimentary to say. “Uh, it’s...relaxing.”

Dom chuckled. “You don't do much relaxing, do you?” he mused.

“Not so much, no.”

Nodding slowly, Dom squinted out toward the horizon. “Then are you ever gonna spit out the question you want to ask me so we can both stop pretending we’re enjoying this?”

Rafael stared at him. “You…” He trailed off, incredulous, and Dom laughed at him.

Actually laughed at him.

Laughed so hard he rocked the damn rickety boat they were sitting in. Slapped his knee and wiped tears of mirth from his eyes as Rafael sat in stunned silence and tried to remember why he even wanted to marry into this family in the first place.

While Dom’s laughter calmed down, Rafael ground his teeth together and mentally sorted through the various statutes on justifiable homicide. Finally, Dom wiped his eyes once more and cleared his throat. “Anyway, do you have a question for me, son?”

“Do I have your blessing to ask Sonny to marry me?”

As rankled as Rafael was by the entire situation, he asked the question as plainly and earnestly as he was able, and Dom responded in kind.

“Of course.” He leaned forward and patted Rafael’s knee comfortingly. “And if it makes you feel better, Sonny _hates_ fishing.”

“Great, I’ll cross that off the honeymoon bucket list,” Rafael sniped.

Dom laughed again, but gentler this time. “Alright, now that that’s done, what do you say we go to the bar and get some drinks in the air conditioning?”

“God, yes please,” Rafael sighed, and this time, when Dom again laughed, he even found it in himself to join in.

* * *

 

“Of course you can marry Sonny!”

Bella practically squealed as she grabbed Rafael and hugged him before she even let him get the question fully out, and Rafael allowed himself a slightly relieved smile as he returned her hug.

He had saved Bella for the last for good reason, knowing that she’d be the easiest Carisi to deal with, and thus far, his prediction had been accurate.

At least, until a heavy hand came down on his shoulder and he turned to find Tommy Sullivan scowling at him. “Oh no,” Tommy said firmly. “You’re not getting away that easily.”

Bella rolled her eyes, wrapping an arm around Rafael’s waist and leaning her head on his shoulder as she glared at her husband. “Tommy, leave him be,” she said dismissively. “He and Sonny are perfect together.”

“Maybe,” Tommy said, steering Rafael toward the kitchen table and sitting him down in a chair, “but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t give him the same treatment that Sonny gave me when I talked to him about marrying you.”

Rafael raised an eyebrow. “If it makes it better, I didn’t knock Sonny up,” he said, aiming for a joke.

Judging by the look on Tommy and Bella’s faces, he hadn’t quite succeeded.

Instead, Rafael changed tacks. “As I’m sure I don’t need to remind you,” he said, eyeing Tommy nervously, “you’re still on parole and threatening a Manhattan ADA would definitely violate your parole.”

“Who said anything about threatening someone?” Tommy asked mildly, pulling out another chair from the table and turning it to sit backwards, resting his arms against the top of the back of the chair.

He stared at Rafael for a long moment, and Rafael tried not to fidget or show his discomfort. “I don’t want any part of this,” Bella said, rolling her eyes and heading out of the room.

“Don’t leave me—” Rafael hissed, but it was too late.

After another uncomfortably long moment, Tommy cleared his throat and leaned in closer. “Do you love Sonny?” he asked.

Rafael stared at him, surprised by the question. “Of course,” he said cautiously, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Will you always love him?”

“Yes,” Rafael said without hesitation.

Tommy moved closer still. “Will you stand by him when he’s wrong, and comfort him when he needs it, celebrate with him in all of life’s joys, and mourn with him in all of life’s sorrows?”

Rafael stared at him, amazed less by the question and more by the unexpected eloquence from Tommy Sullivan, of all sources. “Is that what Sonny asked you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Tommy said. “Pretty sure he cribbed it from Pre-Cana.”

Rafael laughed lightly. “That sounds about right,” he said. He squared his shoulder and looked at Tommy evenly. “And yes. Without any doubt in my mind.”

“Then you have my blessing,” Tommy said, a little gruffly.

“ _Our_ blessing,” Bella called from the other room, and Tommy rolled his eyes before correcting, “Our blessing.”

“Thank you,” Rafael said, sincerely, as Belle rejoined them, beaming. He gave Bella and tommy both a relieved smile. “Gina was right — I didn’t have to worry about you.”

Bella’s eyes narrowed. “Is that what Gina said?” she asked, and Tommy sucked in a breath.

Rafael glanced between them, feeling like he’d just stepped on a landmine, though he wasn’t sure what exactly he’d said. “Uh, yes?”

Bella’s phone was in her hand before Rafael could even blink. “Hey Regina,” Bella said, something shrill in her voice. “I’m here with Rafael, and you’ll never guess what he said.”

Rafael stared at her, bewildered as to how she could possibly have taken what he — via Gina — had said as an insult, and Tommy cleared his throat and leaned in. “Don’t question it,” he advised, as Bella’s voice rose in both volume and shrillness. “Just run. Now, while you still can.”

Rafael didn’t need to be told twice. “Thanks for everything,” he muttered to Tommy and left as quickly as he could.

As he took the stairs down from their apartment two at a time, he allowed himself to smile once again, a real smile this time.

He had everyone’s blessings.

And now, all he needed was to ask Sonny the question he’d been waiting to ask for months.

* * *

 

Sonny had been in many interrogations during his career. He knew the tactics that the best cops used, the ways they kept their suspects on edge and off-guard, and he liked to think he’d gotten pretty good at it.

Clearly, he had _nothing_ on Hispanic mothers.

“What does your father do?”

The question came not from Lucia, who knew exactly what Sonny’s father did for a living, but from one of several other women seated around the table ostensibly playing mahjong and almost certainly judging every detail about him.

“He’s, uh, he’s an electrician,” Sonny said. “IBEW Local 3, going on fifty years now. He just refuses to retire.”

He offered the ladies a tentative smile, but it seemed wasted on them. “And your mother?”

“Uh, housewife for most of my life, since raising four kids is a full-time job in and of itself. But uh, recently she’s been cleaning houses for some of the older couples in our parish with health problems.”

He watched as the answer prompted another round of murmured Spanish between the ladies, and wished once again that his grasp of the Spanish language extended beyond basic conversational and what he needed for his job.

The women around the table commented out the corners of their mouths, back and forth, all sneaking less than surreptitious glances at him. All until Lucia added something in Spanish so staccato it sounded like gunfire, and everyone laughed. _Laughed_. Lucia, who was supposed to be his one ally in this unfamiliar place, had seemingly made a joke at his expense. He thought of the vending machines he’d walked by on his way in the door and couldn’t help but wonder if they served alcohol.

He’d done this to himself, Sonny realized. He had been the one who decided to take the bull by the horns and ask Lucia for permission to marry her son, all without getting Rafael involved. At the time, he'd thought of it as a way to avoid Rafael’s inevitable lecture about how antiquated the very idea of asking for someone’s blessing was.

Now, he realized Rafael would probably have been able to warn him.

When he’d agreed to come here, it was with the expectation of a conversation. Lucia had been busy for weeks, taking his calls but quick to tell him that she couldn’t make it to brunch or lunch or dinner.  

Maybe she wasn’t hungry, Sonny thought. Maybe that was his first mistake.

At least not for food, he thought bitterly as he shifted in his hard plastic chair and tried to focus on the tiles in front of him. If his current surroundings were anything to go by she was hungry for blood because here he was on a Saturday afternoon, in a community center in the South Bronx, surrounded by little old ladies who looked at him with a mixture of amusement and disapproval.  

That was his second mistake. Agreeing to face the firing squad in the form of Rafael’s mother and grandmother’s friends playing mahjong, women who had loved Rafael far longer than he had, undoubtedly because Lucia knew perfectly well what he wanted to talk about and decided to put him through the ringer first.

“So, Sonny,” the woman started in accented English, looking over gold framed bifocals, “Where are you from?”

“Staten Island, _vieja_ ,” another woman interrupted before he could even open his mouth.  “He told you that already.”

Another round of laughter.

The first woman, Alma, playfully patted her friend’s arm and laughed right along with her — Rosa, he was sure, because there were roses on her sweater that made it easier for him to remember. They were joined by Manuela, a much older woman with a long white braid in her hair who spoke no English at all, and Estela, a tiny woman in a knitted cap with a serious face and a Derringer in her handbag.

He tried not to think about that one, because something told him it was a fight he didn’t want to start. Not with Lucia Barba to his left, reading glasses perched on her nose as she looked down at her tiles and frowned, who would almost certainly object to one of her mother’s oldest friends being questioned about her concealed carry permit.

Besides, how much damage could she do?

Sonny tried not to look like he was sweating bullets, even though he absolutely was.

“Do you have a good job?” Rosa asked shrewdly, picking up another match.  “Good prospects for advancement?”

“I, uh—” he started, then cleared his throat and started again, “I’m a detective with the NYPD.  It’s challenging but there’s always room for advancement. I also have a law degree from Fordham.”

“Not Harvard,” Estela muttered decisively, before adding something in Spanish that made all the women chortle and made Lucia snort.

Sonny’s own smile faltered and he glowered down at his own tiles, trying to ignore the way his ears were burning.

Rafael had it so easy, he thought darkly as the rapid-fire Spanish carried on around him. He’d never have to deal with anything like this.

And Rafael was just lucky that he was worth it.


End file.
